6
RAID
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The NVIDIA nForce4 SLI chip supports NVIDIA RAID (Redundant
Array of Independent Disk) that allows RAID arrays spanning across
4 Serial ATA and Parallel ATA drives. It supports RAID 0, RAID 1,
RAID 0+1 and JBOD.
The Silicon Image Sil 3114 chip (LANPARTY UT NF4 SLI-DR Venus
only) allows configuring RAID on another 4 Serial ATA por ts. It sup-
ports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 0+1 and RAID 5.
RAID Levels
RAID 0 (Striped Disk Array without Fault Tolerance)
RAID 0 uses two new identical hard disk drives to read and write
data in parallel, interleaved stacks. Data is divided into stripes and
each stripe is written alternately between two disk drives. This
improves the I/O performance of the drives at different channel;
however it is not fault tolerant. A failed disk will result in data loss in
the disk array.
RAID 1 (Mirroring Disk Array with Fault Tolerance)
RAID 1 copies and maintains an identical image of the data from
one drive to the other drive. If a drive fails to function, the disk array
management software directs all applications to the other drive since
it contains a complete copy of the drive’s data. This enhances data
protection and increases fault tolerance to the entire system. Use
two new drives or an existing drive and a new drive but the size of
the new drive must be the same or larger than the existing drive.
RAID 0+1 (Striping and Mirroring)
RAID 0+1 is a combination of data striping and data mirroring
providing the benefits of both RAID 0 and RAID 1. Use four new
drives or an existing drive and three new drives for this
configuration.
Chapter 6 - RAID
